Derby v Reading (Capital One Cup Third Round): Match Preview

Derby v Reading
Tuesday 23^rd September 2014, KO 7:45PM
iPro Stadium
Referee: Simon Hooper

Reading (2^nd round: Scunthorpe 0-1 Reading)

Form (all comps):

Nottingham Forest v Reading: 4-0
Scunthorpe v Reading (league cup): 0-1
Middlesbrough v Reading: 0-1
Reading v Fulham: 3-0
Sheffield Wednesday v Reading: 1-0

Reading warmed up for this one with an unlucky defeat to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough on Saturday, a result which ended their four-game unbeaten run. The Royals missed a first half penalty when Glenn Murray’s sport kick was saved by Wednesday keeper Keiren Westwood before Murray was again in the thick of the action and saw his header come back off the bar early in the second half. It was a deflected free-kick from Stevie May on 83 minutes that won it for the home side and left Reading ruing their missed chances.

Next up is a trip to Derby County and the iPro Stadium in the League Cup third round on Tuesday evening. Reading will be looking to extend their run in a competition where they have yet to progress further than the last eight since the competitions introduction to the football calendar in 1960. Reading last made an appearance in the third round during the 2012/2013 Premier League season when they beat QPR away 3-2 thanks to goals from Kaspars Gorkss, Nicky Shorey and Pavel Pogrebnyak before bowing out to Arsenal in the fourth round in the infamous 7-5 defeat.

Derby (2^nd round: Derby 1-0 Charlton)

Form (all comps):
Derby v Charlton: 1-0 (league cup)
Derby v Ipswich: 1-1
Nottingham Forest v Derby: 1-1
Blackburn v Derby: 2-3
Derby v Cardiff: 2-2

Derby come into this match after recovering from two goals down at home to Cardiff to secure a 2-2 draw at the iPro Stadium on Saturday. The Rams conceded two goals in five second half minutes before Jordon Ibe and Craig Bryson scored to rescue a point for Derby.

Last season saw Derby bow out of the competition in the third round when they lost 2-1 to local rivals Leicester City at the Kingpower Stadium. Their best ever results in the league Cup are two semi-final appearances in 1968 and as recently as 2009 when they lost 4-2 on aggregate to Manchester United. The Rams will be looking to make the last-16 for the first time since they made the semi-finals in the 2008/09 season.

Last five meetings

07 May 2011 Reading v Derby      W        2-1      League Championship
18 Oct 2011   Reading v Derby      D        2-2      League Championship
14 Feb 2012  Derby v Reading      W        0-1      League Championship
21 Sep 2013  Derby v Reading      W        1-3      League Championship
15 Mar 2014  Reading v Derby      D         0-0      League Championship

Head to Head
These teams have previously met 34 times in all competitions and it is Reading that have the far better record winning on 20 occasions to Derby’s 8 with 6 ending in a draw. Their previous meetings in the league cup were in 1965 in the 3^rd round and 1994 in the second round when the competition required teams to complete a home and away leg against their opponents. In the 1965 competition the first leg at Derby ended in a 1-1 draw before Reading went onto win the second leg at home 2-0. As for 1994, Reading won the first leg at home 3-1 before losing the second leg 2-0 after extra-time and Derby went through on the away goals rule. More recently their meetings have been in the league format with their last 10 matches being played in The Championship. County have not beaten Reading since 2009 when they recorded a 2-1 win at Pride Park, in contrast to the Royals who have won 7 out of their last 10 matches against The Rams. Last season saw Reading record a 3-1 victory at the iPro thanks to a double from Pavel Pogrebnyak and a third from Nick Blackman before the teams played out a 0-0 draw at the Madejski in March.

Team News

Reading: Glenn Murray and Oliver Norwood are cup-tied so will not feature against Derby. Danny Guthrie came on as a late substitute against Sheffield Wednesday as he continues his quest for full fitness. Stephen Kelly will play for the U-21s this week as he too continues his recovery. Hal Robson-Kanu is another player working on his fitness and is still some time away from a return to first team action. As for the longer term absentees Anton Ferdinand, Aaron Tshibola, Craig Tanner, Danny Williams, Garath McCleary , Jem Karacan and Shaun Cummings will definitely not return before October.

Derby: Steve McClaren made six changes to his side for Derby’s second round match against Charlton but has said he will pick a strong side for the match against Reading but there will be rotations from Saturday’s starting line-up against Cardiff. Jake Buxton who missed the Cardiff match due to suspension for his red-card against Nottingham Forest will not play against Reading due to a hip problem while Paul Coutts is also suffering with a similar problem and has not played since a preseason game on July 3. Jeff Hendrick is recovering from a dislocated shoulder which he suffered during Derby’s match against Ipswich and won’t be available until October.

Phil’s prediction: Derby 2-1 Reading